Man and other animals can be protected against infection causing bacteria, fungi, and other microorganisms by the use of various antiseptic preparations. Such preparations are applied to human or animal skin by spraying, dusting or swabbing of a lotion, ointment or powder. The protective duration of such preparations is for only a few minutes to a few hours. Said preparations can also be applied by said methods directly to a source of infection and destroy or render innocuous microorganisms already established.
A critical time when existing antiseptic preparations or materials lose effectiveness in providing necessary prophylaxis is during surgical procedures. In this instance, subdermal flesh and/or internal body organs may be exposed to microorganisms. A typical procedure is to apply a conventional antiseptic solution, lotion, etc., to the dermis prior to performing a surgical incision. Such prophylactic materials are subjected to body fluids such as blood, perspiration, urine, gastric fluids of high acidity, and the like, as well as alcohol or other sterilants common to surgical procedure. Conventional antiseptic preparations lack resistance to such fluids and thus are prone to removal during surgery. Similarly, after surgical closure, the possibility of infection exists, and protection of the wound is necessary. In this instance, resistance to perspiration, urine, water, and other fluids, and resistance to removal via contact with bandages and the like is highly desirable but often unobtainable with existing preparations.
Long term protection is desirable to prevent infection and also to reduce the frequency of antiseptic application. Similarly, antiseptic application is desirable for not-surgical procedures such as treatment of cuts, punctures, scratches, and the like where medical attention may or may not be sought, hypodermic innoculations, treatment of non-human animal wounds or infection, and even as a protective coating for the hands of the medical practioner to forestall the transmission of pathogens to his patients.
It is known that various polyacrylic resins, polyvinyl alcohols and the like will adhere to some degree to human skin and indeed such materials are used for cosmetic purposes. The carboxylated polyacrylic materials used at topical film formers are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,760,886; 2,790,735; 2,934,509; 3,454,509; 3,007,887 and 3,460,945 among others. Said patents teach the preparation of water soluble or alcohol soluble thermoplastic terpolymers of lower alkyl acrylates, lower alkyl methacrylates, and acrylic or methacrylic acid. It is likewise known that such materials are insoluble in acid environments but soluble in alkaline environments unless crosslinked to some degree. The water solubility range is decreased with increasing crosslink density. It is likewise recognized that divalent metal ions such as zinc or calcium will affect such crosslinking. However, even said crosslinked polymers remain soluble in alcohol and films so formed demonstrate little or no resistance to alcohols.
It is also known that various additives can be incorporated in said polymers so that once a film is cast, said additives are uniformly dispersed in said film. If said additive is a volatile material, it may slowly volatilize from the said cast film and thus act as the external environment. For instance U.S. Pat. No. 3,590,118 teaches that an insect repellent may be so incorporated and after film formation is accomplished said repellent is slowly released causing insect avoidance of a human, other animal, or structures. Such preparations are said to be effective for several hours. In contrast to the present invention, the teachings of the above patent have failed to include a crosslinking agent to provide enhanced environmental resistance, an antimicrobial to prevent infections and an adhesion promotor to insure long application life.
It has also been taught in U.S. Pat. No. 3,749,772 that such topically applied films using zinc as a crosslinking agent will prevent contact between human dermis and toxic particles, such as Rhus toxicodendrum droplets, the causative agent of poison ivy rash and thus prevent the allergic reaction. Said topically applied film results in a water insoluble, but alcohol and perspiration soluble film and, unlike the present invention, lacks a dermal adhesion promotor, a difunctional amide crosslinking agent to provide a high degree of resistance to alcohol and body fluids solubilization, and an antimicrobial agent.